The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust
The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust (‘The Trust’) owns GWR 5600 class 6634, which arrived at the SVRSevern Valley Railway for restoration in 2009, and left in an incomplete state in 2017 to move to Peak Rail. It also owns formerly resident GWR Hawksworth 12 wheeled Sleeping Coach 9082.
The Trust is an unincorporated Registered Charity No. 1039409. Its aim is the “preservation of historic railway engines, carriages and ancillary items, education of the general public as to the historical significance of preserved railways through the promotion of actual rolling stock and scale models.”
The Trust employs a number of people on site at Peak Rail as part of a mechanical engineering team tasked with restoring the locomotives in the Trust's collection[1].
Dr Pete Waterman
Its Trustees include Dr Pete Waterman OBE DL.[2] In 2016 Dr Waterman became a vice-president of the Transport Trust, a UK charity dedicated to the preservation of the nation's transport heritage.[3] In 2018 he became President of Peak Rail plc[4].
Locomotives
In addition to 6634, the Trust’s other steam locomotives are GWRGreat Western Railway 4575 Class 2-6-2T No. 5553 and GWRGreat Western Railway 5205 Class 2-8-0T No. 5224. Peak Rail’s Press Release in May 2015 announced: “Dr Pete Waterman OBE DL is delighted to announce that he has reached an agreement with Peak Rail to base his Waterman Railway Heritage Trust assets at its Rowsley site”[5] Both of these locomotives moved in that year from Crewe Heritage Centre to be overhauled.[6]
It also owns diesel locomotives 08830, D7659 (25309/25909) and 46035 (D172) Ixion[1].
Former locomotive
In 2016 the Trust sold the unrestored 7027 Thornbury Castle[7].
Financial settlement with the SVRSevern Valley Railway
Work on locomotive 6634 stalled in 2012 after the boiler tubeplate was stolen from Crewe Heritage Centre, where boiler work was being carried out. By 2014 the SVRSevern Valley Railway reported that there was no progress or commitment on the boiler and the SVRSevern Valley Railway was seeking legal advice concerning the continued lack of progress in order to resolve this long running problem.[8][9] The 2017 SVR(H) accounts included a £65k settlement from the Trust[10].
Other rolling stock
Other stock includes BRBritish Rail or British Railways 21T steel open mineral wagon No B313014 and BRBritish Rail or British Railways Pallet Van No B769951, and coaches GWRGreat Western Railway HawksworthFrederick Hawksworth, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1941-1948 12 wheeled Sleeping Coach 9082 and BRBritish Rail or British Railways(LMR) Staffs Area Managers Inspection Saloon DB 999501[1].
Railway models
It also owns substantial amounts of railway models. It was reported that Dr Waterman auctioned around a tenth of his [sic] collection of railway models in April 2015 for more than £600,000, in order to “raise enough money to secure the future of the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust”.[11]
Subsequently, income to the Trust in its annual returns in the years ending March 2015-20 was £40,203 and spending £570,253[12].
See also
Preservation groups formerly associated with the SVR
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Waterman Railway Heritage Trust page on Peak Rail website (Retrieved 8 October 2021)
- ↑ The Charity Commission
- ↑ The Transport Engineer 9 January 2017 (Retrieved 2 February 2017)
- ↑ Steam Railway Magazine, 27 April 2018
- ↑ Peak Rail Press Release 12 May 2015
- ↑ Peak Rail Wikipedia
- ↑ Railway Magazine 1 August 2016
- ↑ SVRLive News update 19 February 2014
- ↑ SVRLive News update 4 July 2014
- ↑ Minutes of the SVRSevern Valley Railway(H) AGM held on 16 June 2018, Para. 4
- ↑ BBC 16 April 2015
- ↑ The Charity Commission
Links
Charity Commission entry for The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust.
